Alternate Memories
by JackIantoCardiff
Summary: In a parallel universe, Ianto Jones is living a fairly normal life  if not slightly boring  until one day a man that he has only seen in his dreams steps into his life for real and changes it forever.
1. Prologue

Title: **Alternate Memories**

Author: Thomas

Subject: Torchwood – Jack & Ianto – After 'Children of Earth'

I do not own any of these characters. I just own my spin on them.

Prologue:

There are parallel universes. More then you can ever dream of, each unfolding with every possible variation of things that could ever have happened. With the slightest change of events or every time a decision is made…a parallel universe is born. Copied in every detail as the one before, but now with a new path.

Sometimes two universes follow each other very closely…to the point that they connect, even in some small way. Sometimes things can be vastly different between the two, but are bound together by an event or even an individual being.


	2. Chapter 1

Title: **Alternate Memories**

Author: Thomas

Subject: Torchwood – Jack & Ianto – After 'Children of Earth'

I do not own any of these characters. I just own my spin on them.

**Chapter One – Ianto**

Ianto woke up drenched in sweat and trying to catch his breath. Sitting up looking around his small bedroom…he realized he had had another one of his dreams again. Relieved, he fell back into his pillow with a huff. He quickly reached over and grabbed his diary off the side table and began feverishly writing…then he stopped and with a start he sat up swinging his feet over the side of the bed and stared at the floor.

Everything felt different now.

He couldn't quite pinpoint the difference, only a sense of loneliness. He had always felt a connection to something and now that feeling was gone. He looked up at the small window and tried to get a grip on what happened. Then he remembered his dream…he died.

"I don't understand", he said softly out loud to no one.

He had always woken up with a thrill after these dreams and of the sense of excitement they brought with them. With them came a feeling of being connected to something bigger then himself. Even though he didn't know exactly where the feeling came from. That feeling was now gone.

'_Don't be silly_', he thought to himself, '_they are just dreams after all'_.

He glanced at his alarm and realized it would go off in three minutes. With a big sigh, he hit the off button and stood up. He decided to take a shower and finish his diary later. He didn't have to worry about forgetting the dream since these dreams seemed to engrave themselves into his mind...never letting him forget.

After his longer than usual shower, he stood in the middle of his washroom in contemplation. He kept thinking about this latest dream. It seemed to be a series of continuations…playing out precisely where it left of from before. In this one he found himself in a warehouse, then rushing off with Jack to save the day. He felt the rush of adrenaline mixed with fear as his 'dream self' rushed into the Thames House and confronted the creature behind the glass wall…then the feeling of everything gone wrong and then of loss as he stared into Jack's blue eyes. Jack. This person he dreamed so much about over the last several years. Then there was nothing…only the vision of those blue eyes and the sadness within them.

With a shake of his head, he tried to push the thoughts out of his head to focus on the tasks at hand. He wiped the steam from the mirror and stared at himself. He looked tired…he couldn't wait for these overnight hours to be over. Sleeping during the day was just too hard on his system.

He quickly dressed and popped some bread in the toaster for his before work snack.

A short time later he was off, grabbing his diary on the way out.

Walking into the small hotel that he managed was a relief. He could now absorb himself into his work and try at least to shake this feeling of loss he has had since he woke up. Greeting a few people as he passed quickly to his office behind the front desk, he sat and began going through his routine.

He enjoyed his job for the most part, been working at this hotel for nearly four years now. Handling the financial aspect of business and the employees…overall making sure everything ran smoothly. He was however stuck working the over nights until they could get a reliable person in the position, but he didn't mind the change. He needed a little adventure in his life even if it was not very adventurous.

His mind kept falling back to those blue eyes and the feeling of…almost devastation...no matter how much he tried to push the thoughts away. How could a figment of his imagination affect him so much? With a sigh…he began going about his filing trying his best to forget.

In the early morning, once his normal duties were done. He strolled around the quiet hotel. He was the only employee around at this time and no one else was due to arrive, so he walked out into the central garden and sat down on a bench facing the fountain. It was spectacular on nights like this with the fountain water reflecting the moonlight and the warm breeze that blew past him. In the glow of the interior lights he opened his diary and examined it. He had finished his latest entry about the dream during his lunch break earlier and now wanted to reflect a little. For some unknown reason, he just knew he wouldn't be having these dreams anymore. Not of Jack or the others or their adventures. This puzzled him. It was all so real…all of it…even the dieing.

Flipping open the diary back to that entry several years ago…to the first entry of Jack. He let out a small chuckle. Thinking of catching a flying dinosaur was outrageous…and then those feelings he had for Jack that grew into way more then he ever would have thought since he didn't even feel that way about any man. How peculiar…especially since this man was a fictional over the top character in his mind.

"I do have a wild imagination", he said aloud in a low voice.

They were so real. He had a tangible sense of everything around him. Every touch and smell was like he was living it…then he would wake up.

"All so very strange", Ianto said out loud again…his brows furrowed, deep in thought.


	3. Chapter 2

Title: **Alternate Memories**

Author: Thomas

Subject: Torchwood – Jack & Ianto – After 'Children of Earth'

I do not own any of these characters. I just own my spin on them.

Author's note: Thank you for all your positive feedback. This is my first attempt at fanfiction…so don't chastise me if you see a mistake. I'm having a lot of fun with this.

**Chapter Two – Jack**

Jack was relieved after finally hacking away at the last bit of overgrowth covering the entrance to the very large ancient building. All these months and he was finally about to find what he had been searching for. The thought of being in this South American jungle any longer was not a fun idea. He pulled out the small yet powerful explosive from his pack and strategically attached it to the large stone covering the entry, then ran back and slid behind several boulders before hitting the trigger switch.

'_No time for subtleties now'_, he thought.

Besides he always loved a chance to blow something up.

The trees swayed wildly sending birds squawking for safety from the explosion, with rocks and other debris falling erratically all around. With a satisfied grin he peered around to see his handy work. It worked. The stone covering was cracked in half and leaned at an angle against the side pillar. He walked up and pushed the heavy stone away to give himself more room. He jumped back as the top half slammed to the ground with a thud. He stared into the darkness of the opening, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Won't be long now", Jack said looking down at his scan of the interior. Turning on his torch and with a deep determined breath he squeezed through the opening and set out to find the main central chamber.

What seemed like hours passed before he finally maneuvered his way through the maze like passageways and found the room he was looking for. He scanned the room again, pinpointing the area where the low energy signal was emitting from.

'_Let this be the right one'_, he thought.

Out of the several likely signals that Tosh's program had picked up, this one was the most accessible option. Before she died, Tosh had been in the process of locating energy emissions from alien tech or other objects that managed to find there way to various parts of the world after coming through the rift. The rift had long been depositing alien objects since far before Torchwood was around to round them up and she had been set on the task of finding them. These signals were the only ones that matched the energy signal of a certain type of rare crystal that he needed in order to get the teleport function of his vortex manipulator working. Then he could finally get away from this planet and the bad memories it held.

Turning towards the far wall he flashed his torch in the area of the energy emission. There were circular sets of holes all around a central stone carving that protruded several inches out from the wall. He set about shining his light in each hole only to reveal that most of them only contained dust…others had pottery or bones as well as other similar things. Then he caught a glimpse of a reflective object within the hole directly above the carving. Inside he found what he was looking for…a small purplish colored crystal. After a quick scan to confirm it was indeed the rare Xaonian crystal used as a power source for his vortex manipulator, he sat down against the wall with a sad sigh.

'_I should be happy'_, he thought.

With his task accomplished, his energy drained. He began sobbing lightly with the thoughts of all that he had lost. Especially Stephen and Ianto. Two people he cared more about than anything and he was directly responsible for their deaths. There was nothing he could do about it now…so with a shake of his head and a quick wipe of his face he reached for his pack and pulled out his tool kit. He just needed a piece of the crystal and once inserted into his wrist strap, he could teleport out of this jungle and then off this planet for good.

Once finished with the crystal and a quick programming of a few coordinates, Jack went about repacking his supplies. Glancing at his scanner, he noticed another energy signal…but very faint.

"That's interesting", he said aloud.

He stood up and scanned the wall again. It was too faint to pinpoint, so he went about checking each hole again...finding nothing of interest. With a frustrated sigh he realized the signal must have been coming from the central carving itself. He propped his torch on his pack and angled it towards the wall and began examining the carving. It looked as though the carving itself was set inside a hole and with some twisting and pulling, and a lot of grunting, he managed to pull the carving from the wall. He shown the light in the exposure and inside found a small golden hand size metallic box with a large turquoise jewel set in the top.

Grabbing it…he stood staring at it. With a shrug, he opened it…and the room was suddenly filled with a blue light that faded to daylight and Jack was no longer in the dark chamber he was in before. He was standing in the open jungle. Stunned, Jack looked around and instead found himself standing in front of what looked like a vine covered alter and all around him were enormous stone pillars similar to Stonehenge that were covered in jungle overgrowth. Not sure what to do…he closed the box and everything went dark.

After a moment he realized he was back inside the chamber he was in before. With a deep breath he opened the box again, but this time nothing happened. Only a dim blue glow emitted from within the box. Looking inside he found something that looked similar to his vortex manipulator, but much sleeker. There was a gold mechanism that was set inside an encasing, that looked to be made of some kind of bluish crystal, with a flexible bluish gray metal band instead of a leather strap.

"A Jumper?", he said out loud with a laugh of recognition. He quickly looked around the empty room and carefully secured the box in his pack.

'_Looks like a whole new set of options just opened up'_, Jack thought with a wonder of excitement….and with a press of a button he teleported out of the chamber.

Back in his hotel room in Cardiff he sat examining the Jumper. He had never actually seen one in person, only pictures, but it worked similar to his vortex manipulator. Only instead of time traveling within the same universe, the Jumper jumped to parallel universes. It was alien tech found in the far future and became a side project of the Time Agency. From his understanding there were only about a couple of the devices ever found and they could never be replicated since part of the basic elemental structure of the device was never found in our universe or any other that he was aware of. The Agency eventually abandoned the project, since it was determined that the Jumpers had minds of their own. Some even thought said they had to be sentient, for all the trouble they caused.

The gold box it was in must have acted as an insulator, trapping the energy and letting it build up. Then when Jack opened it, it propelled him to a parallel world. He was just glad it had brought him back. Some of the agents assigned to the Jumper Program never returned…only the devices came back. Nobody was sure why…only that they seemed to only work correctly for certain operators.

Now that he was ready, he had to say his goodbyes to Gwen…the only person on this planet that he cared about that would still speak to him. He wasn't going to tell her what he had planned…he didn't want her to talk him out of it, like he knew she would. All he knew was this was his only chance to see Ianto again and he wasn't going to pass it up.

'_Not my Ianto though_', he thought.

But it would be Ianto and just seeing him alive will make everything better. Not a very rational thought, but he didn't care.

'_What else is there to do?_', he thought again.

He picked up his phone and dialed.

"Gwen. It's jack. I need to see you".

Several days later he was ready.


End file.
